Telecommunications Exec Ivan G. Seidenberg to Lecture as Part of Pace University MOOC

Amar Gupta, Dean of Pace’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems, attracts students through Massive Open Online Course with all-star guest speakers.

Ivan G. Seidenberg

Open online courses give Pace an exciting new avenue for sharing with individuals across the world the intellectual breadth and emphasis on real-world professional experience that defines our community.

(PRWEB) April 03, 2013

Ivan G. Seidenberg -- former Verizon top executive and Pace University alumnus for whom the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems is named -- will speak at the university on April 3 as a highlight of a lecture series developed by Amar Gupta, Ph.D., Dean of the Seidenberg School, in a Massive Open Online Course, or MOOC.

“Open online courses give Pace an exciting new avenue for sharing with individuals across the world the intellectual breadth and emphasis on real-world professional experience that defines our community," University President Stephen J. Friedman said.

“I am especially delighted that Dr. Gupta’s course will feature Ivan Seidenberg, a visionary leader, whose Pace education started him down the road of driving innovation at Verizon and across the telecommunications industry," he added. "Mr. Seidenberg, who is also a Pace trustee, has insights and experiences that will make important contributions to this new knowledge arena.”

The event, “Inventing Verizon: Innovation and Growth in a Transforming Communications Industry,” will take place on Wed., from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the Downtown Conference Center Amphitheater, 1st floor, 157 William St., New York, NY. The event will be simulcast on Pace’s suburban New York campus in Pleasantville, 861 Bedford Road, Entrance 3, in the Goldstein Academic Center, Room 300. The lecture will also be streamed online on Udemy.com, a course development tool. The free lecture is open to the public.

Seidenberg, retired chairman and CEO of Verizon, will share how he led Verizon on an extraordinary path from a 100-year-old company to a 21st century innovator in broadband and mobile communications, providing a powerful model for how to lead during a time of major technological and social change.

Gupta developed the course, “International Technology Services in the Knowledge Economy to address current trends in business and education. Gupta introduced the concept of the “24-Hour Knowledge Factory,” a model explored in this MOOC, in a detailed, provocative Wall Street Journal article titled “Expanding the 24-Hour Workplace: Round-the-clock operations aren't just for call centers anymore.” In the new 24-hour workplace, a professional in the United States who works the usual 8-hour work day can transfer a project to a colleague in a different time zone, perhaps in China or Australia, who will then work 8 hours and in turn transfer the project to a colleague in Eastern Europe. The project is then transferred back to the original professional in the US.

The course covers the technological, economic, legal, and political considerations necessary to foster this type of collaboration. See details of the lecture series and view the first two lectures here.

“The concept of the 24-hour knowledge factory is not new to the telecommunications industry,” Seidenberg said. “Communications companies have had to turn to innovative approaches to keep up with a rapidly changing world. I am looking forward to sharing my experiences in this area at Pace.”

Gupta, an expert on linking science with entrepreneurship, joined Pace as the dean of the Seidenberg School in August.

“My role as dean of the Seidenberg School affords me tremendous opportunities for developing new courses geared to the needs of students everywhere,” he said. “The challenges and opportunities of the global knowledge economy can be met with such online courses open to students worldwide.”

Seidenberg (MBA ’81) donated the largest gift in Pace’s history, $15 million awarded to the School of Computer Science and Information Systems in October 2005. One-third of his naming gift supports the Seidenberg Scholars Program, a program dedicated to recruiting and supporting top computing students from across the country.

About Pace University: Since 1906, Pace has educated thinking professionals by providing high quality education for the professions on a firm base of liberal learning amid the advantages of the New York metropolitan area. A private university, Pace has campuses in Lower Manhattan and Westchester County, N.Y., enrolling nearly 13,000 students in bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs in its Lubin School of Business, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, College of Health Professions, School of Education, School of Law, and Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems.